pondering deafness in our bailey

jimandthom · #1 10-24-2009, 04:47 PM

A couple of nights ago, while my partner, the boxer and the puppy were hogging the couch, the most comfortable remaining spot in the house was at the computer. Started to read many threads regarding white boxers, deafness and the relation to pigment and there were some threads (can't remember where) that talked about an increasing number of dark pigmented spots as the dog ages. While I suspect the answer is "no" my question is if pigment were to develope at the affected auditory area does hearing return? Not really a big deal, as she is so darn sweet but my mind tends to wander around and come up with odd things to consider.

BxrMommieNAZ · #2 10-24-2009, 06:15 PM

No. If your pup was born deaf, they will remain deaf throughout their life.

Caney Creek · #3 10-24-2009, 10:26 PM

Nope. From what I've read and understand about deafness due to lack of pigment, puppies that are affected by this can actually hear at birth. But, because those tiny hairs of the inner ear -- I believe it is called the stria -- lacks pigment, for some reason that causes those little hairs to die or degenerate by the time the pup is around 4 weeks old. It is the degeneration of the stria that actually causes deafness. Deafness is permanent because the stria cannot regenerate... they cannot become pigmented again if they are not there in the first place

jimandthom · #4 10-25-2009, 07:53 AM

Thought that it wouldn't happen. When we first got her at about 14 weeks old, we tried a few loud noises behind her and not a twitch, flinch or anything. Occassionally though we have seen her act like she has heard a noise, which sometimes makes us wonder that there may be a very narrow frequency range that does register, but not the standard household noises.
Anyway after 16 months of being possessed by a boxer, we fully understand why people are so passionate about them.

Thanks